Sports Analyst Pat Robertson Weighed In On The Tim Tebow Trade

As we’ve discussed in the past, you can’t have much of a conversation about recent New York Jets acquisition Tim Tebow without religion being mentioned. Whether it’s our juvenile jokes or the fiery rages of cable news debate, Tebow’s No. 1 claim to fame isn’t that he’s a former Heisman Trophy winner and BCS champion quarterback, but that he really loves God.

So it goes without saying that certain religious figures would list Tebow as their favorite athlete, and that seems to be the case with televangelist Pat Robertson, who took time out from spreading the gospel to complain about the Denver Broncos giving up on Tebow for that washed up bum, Peyton Manning.

“I think the Denver Broncos treated him shabbily. He won seven games. He brought them into the playoffs, for heaven sakes. I mean, they were a nothing team. He rallied them together with spectacular last-minute passes and, you know, when they beat Buffalo — I mean, Pittsburgh — it was a tremendous victory.”

Buffalo in the playoffs? Now I know that you’re just a senile old coot.

“And you just ask yourself, OK, Peyton Manning was a tremendous MVP quarterback, but he’s been injured. If that injury comes back, Denver will find itself without a quarterback — and in my opinion, it would serve them right.”

I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with what Robertson said, really, because it actually seems like common sense commentary – “If Manning gets injured, the Broncos have nothing.” Unfortunately, common sense doesn’t make good headlines. In fact, it’s a lot more fun if you take what Robertson said – that if Manning gets injured, maybe Denver deserves to be screwed – and make it much more scandalous.

The USA Today, Fox Sports, PFT and other news outlets have all used bits of innuendo and incendiary language like “Karma” and “Wishes injury” as if Robertson is sitting in a chair at Sunny Acres with a Manning voodoo doll. But my “Out of Context Headline of the Day” goes to The Raw Story for this gem:

Pat Robertson, go eat another bag of cocks you self righteous, mouthy piece of shit! Tebow can take care of himself, and you are far from a Christian, and know shit about karma. Good karma would be if your toilet fell and cracked YOUR neck while you were getting a drink of water, you two faced blowhard son of a bitch!!

I don’t like the feeling that defending this guy gives me, but I think Burnsy’s got a point. I don’t see anywhere in that quote that he wishes harm on anyone. At best, these headlines are yellow journalism; at worst, they’re “faith-baiting”. He has said so many stupid things so often that no reasonable person wants to have anything to do with him. Whether they share a common religious foundation with him or not. But this gives people a chance to scream “Fuck you, hypocrite!” And stomp their feet and wail and gnash teeth. That last headline wasn’t even taking things out of context. It was a flatout lie.

Forget for a moment that Westerners seem to have ABSOLUTELY no idea how Karma actually is supposed to work, the worst you can accuse him of is acknowledging that a kind of cosmic justice might play out in Denver if Manning gets hurt. And to a point, I mean, c’mon, he may be onto something. A five year deal for a guy with fused vertebrae? That seems … ambitious. Leaving alone the fact that Denver has made stupid QB move after stupid move since Horseteeth retired, it just sounds to me like a guy who’s a fan of a player venting about his guy being “done wrong”.

Jacktion, your reductivist trolling on the nature of Christianity didn’t go unnoticed. But even if Robertson had said that, which he didn’t, he no more speaks for his movement than you speak for everyone who shares a belief of yours. “Ah, Christianity.” was incoherent. I can’t even offer you Internet points for effort on that one.

Note to Tim Tebow. If you are questioned about Pat Robertson’s expect analysis, respond with some variation of this:

“I don’t know what he is talking about. The Denver Broncos gave me an opportunity to start, when many other people laughed in mine and their faces. And they stuck by me throughout the season and we had a lot of fun and hopefully made the Broncos’ fans proud of us. Then once a QB the caliber of Peyton Manning shows up as a Free Agent, they would be incompetent to not attempt to get a first ballot Hall of Fame QB like him.

And as for wishing someone ill will or injury, I know people make fun of me for being open of my beliefs and my relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But I hope everyone notices that I never use my faith as a way to ridicule, criticize, or judge anyone for their actions or inactions. God Bless.”